LTHS Can Legally Keep Appraisal Secret

LA GRANGE, IL – Lyons Township High School has the legal right to keep the appraisal of its property in Willow Springs secret for now.

In response to Patch's public records request last month, the school chose to keep the appraisal of its 70-acre wooded land under wraps.

The appraisal is for the land under its current zoning. The one from two years ago was for industrial uses, which are banned for the area in question.

The school board has violated the law before in its effort to sell the land. Last year, the attorney general found the board illegally closed two meetings about the land.

For the appraisal, the school pointed to the exception under the Freedom of Information that allows it to choose secrecy for documents related to a not-yet-consummated real estate transaction.

Don Craven, a Springfield-based open government attorney, indicates that appraisals can be withheld from the public until after a real estate deal is done. His opinion was included in the state-by-state comparison by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Earlier this month, Jill Grech, the school board's president, addressed the issue in an email to Fred Whiting, a Willow Springs critic of the board's handling of the sale process.

She wrote the board has made no decisions on the appraisal's release.

"The most recent appraisal is still part of a decision-making process regarding the future of the property; therefore, the appraisal report is currently exempt from disclosure...," she said.

In previous meetings, the board has discussed the need for a new appraisal. But members have been publicly silent on the topic now that the board received it.

The land in question is next to an elementary school and houses. The board's previous plan to sell to an industrial buyer enraged residents in Willow Springs and nearby towns.